I remember when I was younger, Father would take me to the nearest forest to practice running through the trees. He'd set up sound detectors that would let off a loud noise if they heard anything over a certain volume level. Then, he'd have me run through the forest on a timer. I was supposed to reach each checkpoint in thirty seconds without setting of the detectors.
Over time it became easier to watch my feet as well as the trees. I'd learn which objects on the forest floor would produce less sound if stepped on. Often the noise detectors would go off because I'd slam into a tree, but over time I learned to navigate around those as well. Running quietly through dense trees required full use of one's peripheral vision.
I was reminded of those times as Aureole, Kai, and I bolted through the thick foliage, trying to stay out of the way of the Vermillion squadron heading in the direction of the fire. We hadn't seen a ton of warriors through the trees, but I assumed that was because we went out of our way to avoid them.
"I'd say we have about fifteen more minutes before we reach the camp," Kai said, his voice strained from the exercise.
Storm didn't respond (his eyes were squeezed shut and his face was pale), while Aureole merely nodded. She reached out to pat her helpless cousin's arm. Meanwhile, the light rain above us continued to sprinkle.
After another minute we were forced to slow down. Kai was too tired to run with Storm on his back any further, and Storm needed help walking due to his exhaustion. Aureole's face was tense as she lobbed her cousin forward. Off in the distance, the faint sound of hisses and swords clashing could be heard.
"Did anyone..." I heaved for breath, "did anyone see the Overlord?"
Aurie shook her head. Kai wouldn't meet my eyes.
"He must still be at the camp," I said.
"We've been preparing him his whole life. He'll be fine." Kai responded vaguely. His brown eyes were glassy while he huffed for breath with the rest of us. Kai never mentioned who he thought 'he' was. At this point, I would have said Morro was the in the best mental condition to take on fighting the Overlord, but then the whole Nori ordeal really set him back. I had no idea if Shade was mentally ready for the fight either.
But be warned, to defeat the darkness you must have three things:
A key, a sacrifice, and a voice that sings.
Then the tides shall turn in favor of the light,
And purge this world of its eternal night.
We had the three things. We had the son of Oni and Light. That meant we had to emerge victorious.
Suddenly, a loud explosion banged in the distance, and smoke drifted up through the rain. And after the explosion, a loud set of horns bellowed through the air. Kai stumbled up from his stooped position and tried to peer through the trees.
"What in the world is that?" I covered my ears.
Kai's face paled, making his several of his scars stand out. "The horns of destruction."
"We need to go," Aureole said.
No one argued.
When we finally broke through the trees, we found a full-fledged battle in place. Hundreds of Vermillion were swarming what looked like a hill filled with different vehicles, several of which were in use. A no-door wrangler swerved through the torn grass in front of us; a white hand emerging from the window fended off several half-Vermillion with a single dagger. A Vermillion who'd fallen off because of the speed barely took any time at all to reform. As soon as it was on its feet, it turned to us, its eyes blazing violet with malice.
A single fireball exploded into its abdomen, knocking it back into tiny snakes.
Aureole unsheathed her daggers and ran into the fray. Kai ran after her, picking up the Vermillion's discarded club to use in the battle. Storm limped after them with no weapons at all. His eyes were bright with tenacity, but tenacity wouldn't be enough to save him from the swarms of Vermillion. I yanked my axe off my back to cover for him.
Luckily for us, the hill was made of dirt. I was able to stop someone from running me over with a well-placed ramp, which made the Vermillion driver launch high into the sky and land with a crash. Several more Vermillion climbed the hill to swarm me, but they were like training dummies on a course. I may have been weakened, but my fighting skills were a sharp as ever.
After a few seconds, Storm and I were able to make it to the others—the 'others' meaning Kai and Lloyd fighting back-to-back.
"Where are Morro and Shade?" Kai yelled over the stinging swords and the thundering horns.
"The Cannon!" Lloyd replied, using his katana to cleanly slice off an incoming Vermillion's helmet.
"How long have you been here?" My stomach churned as I lifted more dirt to block an incoming vehicle. It slammed into the wall, smoke drifting up to join the other crashed vehicles' remains.
"I don't know!"
I swung my axe like a baseball bat, knocking a few Vermillion off balance. Storm leapt forward to shove them to the floor, and Kai finished the job with Spinjitzu, tearing the Vermillion back into their original forms.
An arrow whizzed by me, nearly stabbing me straight in the face. I swiveled to see more Vermillion emerging from the nearby camp's tents, carrying weapons of all kinds.
"They've got reinforcements," I reminded the parents as we ran to take shelter behind my dirt wall.
"Then we've got to take those out," Aureole launched herself over the top of the wall in a swirl of color, scaring back the incoming snakes with fire. "I say we burn the tents."
"What—"
"Their weapons are stored there. They've probably got more soldiers hidden in the tents. If we burn the camp, then we burn all of them out of hiding," Aurie cut her father off, sparking more flames over her fists. Meanwhile, the rain instantly stopped and turned to a cloud-speckled sunny sky.
Lloyd's face twisted as he took her idea into consideration. Right next to us, a blinking black ball landed in the dirt. Kai shoved Storm and me aside just as it beeped.
An explosion went off, sending us all flying into the mud. More arrows and grenades flew through the skies, keeping us in a constant flight rather than a fight. The Vermillion were retreating back to the camp, taking shelter behind their archers.
A vehicle squelched to stop in front of me, and Harumi and Carmen leapt out of it right as it exploded into fiery shards. Both girls stumbled through the mud, the truck's remains bashing their forms with slices of metal.
In the distance, a larger fire began to burn.
I swiveled to find Kai and Storm, but they'd been blasted further away, victims of momentum. Harumi brought me back to attention, gasping as a smoke as black as boiling tar began to fill the air. "What in the...?"
I hurriedly put one of Carmen's arms around my shoulders, and together with Harumi we made our way up the hill. There should have been enough archers to kill us right on the spot, but the arrows had stopped firing. Because the Vermillion were swarming the camp, trying to save their artillery.
Right in front of us was a camp of tents, spread out further than any of us had fathomed.
The tents were on the fire, and the flames were spreading too fast to stop.
My mission was simple.
Pave a path for Shade, so he could take control of the Cannon of Dark. We'd use the Cannon to shoot down the army that went after our distraction. If we had time, then maybe we could use it to cripple the Overlord as well. This would clear out a major portion of our enemies, and hopefully make the final fight easier.
I knew it was all going wrong when the tents went up in smoke. I was slicing through Vermillion after Vermillion, stabbing the reptiles instead of the armor. If the snakes were dead, they couldn't reform. Suddenly all I could smell was smoke, and the loud blaring of horns was turning my faint headache into full-blown nausea.
When I looked through the crowd of hissing and steel armor, all I could see was fire.
Noria.
Her name was on my mind before I could blink. She might still be trapped in the tents. The air around us was warming drastically with the strange weather changes, which was spreading the fire even faster. I realized I had to find her and get her out now, or she just might be lost forever.
Free the offspring. Silvari's stern words echoed in my head.
I looked around for Shade, but he was lost in the chaos. We were near the Cannon, and he was more skilled than me at everything. He could make it without me.
I had to go find Noria.
Sprinting off into the flames, I shouted out her name, searching every tent that hadn't caught fire yet. The incoming Vermillion were ignoring me, all of them running to either stop Shade from entering the Cannon, or to stop the tents from burning down.
I ripped open a flap to a tent, only to find it filled with weaved caskets. I grew more and more frantic as I made my way through the tents, finding tents filled with pillows, a tent with a cot in it, a tent filled with swords, a tent with a bunch of stinking meat, a tent with more caskets—
"NORIA WHERE ARE YOU?" I barely ducked under the tent's entrance before it burst into flames. The air was drying at an extremely rapid rate, and it occurred to me that my stress just might be making the fire worse.
Curse my elemental power.
I continued to pillage tent after tent, my nausea getting worse as my stomach churned with stress. I ended up retching all over the mud right as something banged, rocking the whole camp with its impact. I had no idea what happened until the light above me completely blacked out. That's when I saw him.
The Overlord.
He was flying straight to the center of camp, right where Cannon was.
Shade.
I cried out, reaching in that direction, only to hear a small whimper through the cackling flames. I swiveled between the two directions, barely being able to think over the obnoxiously loud horns. Noria, or my brother. Noria, or my brother. My promise to our dead allies, or the son of Oni and Light.
I ran towards the whimper.
Shade can hold his own Shade can hold his own—
The flames hadn't reached the tents near me yet, but I knew I had less than five minutes before the fire caught up. Judging by the high levels of adrenaline I was carrying, it'd probably be less than that. When I tore open the flap to the nearest tent, I was greeted by a large metal cage.
"Noria!" I dropped to my knees in front of the cage, reaching out to the girl inside. I wasn't able to reach her, but just to see her, alive, was enough to block out the rest of the world for just a second.
"You came for me," she whispered, her voice almost too weak to hear. It was still the most beautiful sound I'd ever heard.
I nodded, my heart in my throat, but then remembered how drastic the situation was. Nori watched me attempt to find the lock on the cage. Once I'd found it, I stuck my spear's point into the keyhole to try and pick it. It didn't click.
"He destroyed the key," she said, not moving from her spot in the back of the cage.
"What?" I looked up from my project. The heat was getting thicker, like a suffocating blanket over our heads.
"The Overlord," she coughed. "He destroyed the key to this cage. You're not going to be able to set me free now."
I shook my head, my attempts growing more hysterical. "I've got to get you out. There's a fire and—"
"I know, Morro."
I looked up to meet her sad, indigo eyes. A single tear dripped from them as she bowed her head. I could see the tips of her white ears poking through her dirty blonde hair, a reminder of the secrets we'd shared. A reminder of the promise I'd made. A reminder of the promise I couldn't keep.
"I know."
She shall be sacrificed by loyalty to save this world's son of Oni and Light.
Her sacrifice has brought about a change in you.
A change. Yes, Noria had brought about a great change in me. Never before had I imagined myself grieving for anyone other than my family, never before had I imagined rushing straight into a burning camp just to save a life. A life that I genuinely cared about, from the bottom of my heart.
True love is a choice Morro; it's always a choice.
And I chose her.
Slowly, carefully, I set down my spear on the dirt floor. I knelt beside the cage, forcing myself to take deep breaths—despite that fact that meant breathing in smoke. Noria's steady expression shifted upon seeing my actions, and she was much quicker to notice my resolve than I expected.
"No," was all she said.
"Shade is strong," I said, wrapping my fingers around the bars. Around us, the flames started to lick the corners of the tent. "He'll do well in completing his destiny."
There seemed to be some sort of thread between us, a thread that was getting tighter and tighter. As if it weren't of her own free will, Nori inched closer, until the bars were the only thing that separated us. She didn't flinch when I closed her fingers in my own, entwining both our hands around the cage that kept us trapped.
"I know why," she barely forced out the words, "I know why and it hurts me to think about it. It's a terrible decision, really, but I know there's nothing I can say that will change your mind."
The fire spread up the thick fabric walls, enclosing us in heat.
Her fingers were cold, despite the oven-like atmosphere we were surrounded by. There were so many things I wanted to say to her, many things I wanted to thank her for, many things I wanted to smile at her for. Yet somehow, I knew she understood my nonverbal messages. There was nothing more I could say now. I took one last shaky breath and pressed my forehead against the bars.
One last request.
And she understood, just like she always had, and pressed her forehead against the bars as well. The only things keeping us apart.
I love you, my heart whispered.
Tears streamed down my cheeks as the flames started to fall with the debris of the tent. Despite the physical and emotional turmoil of the past few days, I finally felt at peace. Dying by the side of the person I loved was both wonderful and fulfilling. Just to know, for the first time in my life, that there was someone who understood me, who bore my presence with complacency, who saw me for me, was enough to help me through the biting agony of the burning flames.
I loved Noria, and I was not letting her die alone.
The fire blazed, eating up one more insignificant meal before moving onto its next slaughter.
Extinguish them.
It was a memory from long ago, back when I was just a little boy, trying to get a proper hold on the elemental powers that would haunt me for the rest of my life. Yet, the memory was all that came to mind as the world around me erupted in blazing fire. There were hisses and screeches in the distance as the embers sparked, burning its way through both the Overlord's side and ours.
The Cannon of Dark was only a few feet away, but the crowd of spitting Vermillion was too thick to break through. I needed my brother to help me. After stabbing a Vermillion out of commission, I quickly craned my neck to try and find him. He was nowhere in sight.
"MORRO!" I tried, blocking an incoming attack.
No response.
The flames burned higher and hotter around us.
Extinguish them.
With a snarl, I whipped my longsword around, knocking a clear circle of Vermillion back. While they were staggering to balance themselves (or in some cases, trying to fit back together), I closed my eyes and felt for the fire. It would be easy to extinguish the entire camp of it, to snap the energy clean out of the enemy. Then I remembered that doing so would kill everyone inside of the camp. Which meant I would murder my friends and family.
Do the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many? the Overlord purred into my brain as I hesitated. I know you're strong enough to kill me, but will your moral compass allow it? I'll need a pretty big snap—one that might be too big for your little companions to handle.
I had opened my eyes to see a dead meadow before. Father had trembled—a grown man who had seen many terrors had trembled—as he looked up from the brink of death. It was then that twelve-year-old me had realized what I was capable of.
I wasn't going to do that again.
You realize that you're not going to have a choice, the Overlord said. I gritted my teeth and swung my way back into the incoming mob. Your pathetic brother is too weak to defeat me. If you pit him against me, I promise you he'll be dead before ten minutes have passed. Two powerful Spinjitzu Masters have pitted energy against me before, and each time they have failed miserably. Neither of them could do what you can do, Shade; neither of them could take my life force away.
"Get out of my head!" I screamed, not even trying to practice proper sword-form at this point. Father had always taught me to be graceful in combat, to not fight with emotion.
"Head first, heart second," he had said.
Yet here I was, hacking and slashing through slithering warriors until my boots were soaked in their crimson blood. All that anger, all that frustration boiled over into my hands until it was all I could do to keep my focus on the Cannon. I wanted to hunt down every last Vermillion in this camp and slay them all. I wanted to show the Overlord that I was more than capable of killing him too. But most of all, I knew I wanted to show the world that I was powerful in my own right, and not because I had an element scarier than death itself.
I rushed up the stairs of the Cannon, wrestling with my splattered gi to get the key out of my pocket. Right on my heels, the living Vermillion warriors climbed up after me. I kicked them back with as much force as possible, quickly scanning the Cannon's motherboard to find where to put the key.
There was no motherboard. Just a ton of switches, all pulled down. I glanced down at the key, then sucked in air in shock.
It was glowing gold.
What in the—
A helmet flew into the cockpit, with several orange snakes scurrying around my feet to occupy it. I punted the helmet out and turned back to the switches. In the center of them, sat one large red tile. The tile had a hole in it, and that too, was glowing gold. It was almost like the Cannon wanted me to take it over.
Shoving the key into the hole, I twisted and the machine clicked, instantly rumbling beneath my feet. The cockpit around me brightened up, and in front of the switches the walls opened to reveal a window.
"Alright, big guy, time to fire." I started flipping the switches, but nothing happened.
No one is going to be firing my Cannon, the Overlord said.
Then the whole cannon ricocheted backwards, sending off a blast so loud I swore I went deaf.
And the sun went black.
"Hello, Shade," a creepily familiar voice cooed from outside. Before I could yelp in shock, claws crashed through the thin metal roof of the cockpit and tore it off.
The Overlord grinned down at me, his eyes alight with murder.
I was ripped out of the cockpit and thrown to the dirt before I could even blink. He was more massive than I could have ever imagined, but with his size came a grace so lithe it would have made the Ninja cry. Instead of stomping on me, instead of squashing me like a bug, he smiled again, showing all of his white fangs. Then, he reached into the cockpit and said, "Cannon of Dark, fire at Shade Garmadon."
And the Cannon fired.
I don't remember if it were instincts or training that took over. I barely remembered anything.
All I could recall was that my right hand was outstretched, and that somehow, somehow, I was alive.
That's when the Overlord grinned even wider.
Two powerful Spinjitzu Masters have pitted energy against me before, and each time they have failed miserably. Neither of them could do what you can do, Shade; neither of them could take my life force away.
I stammered in shock as realization passed over me. I snapped. I snapped. The Cannon fired at me, and I was able to stop it because of my elemental power.
Wildly I scanned the flames around me—flames, thank goodness. If they were still burning, that meant the area around me hadn't been affected. My companions were still safe.
The horns blared louder, then went deadly silent. The Overlord didn't seem fazed by the noise at all, he simply unfurled his giant wings.
A laser beam shot out of seemingly nowhere, striking the Cannon of Dark in its core. Before my eyes, it started to grow. The lumps of metal sloughed into the smooth curves of fine craft. Arches and wires intertwined, creating magnificent design along the iron base. The Cannon was becoming less of a monster and more of a beautifully horrific masterpiece.
"Cannon of Dark," the Overlord started, his voice echoing over the weak cackles of the blaze.
Cannon of Dark.
Cannon of Dark, fire at Shade Garmadon.
Fire at Shade Garmadon.
Fire.
"Fire at Morro Garmadon."
"NO!" I thrust out my hands again, not even trying to feel for a specific source of energy. I just had to stop the Cannon from firing. I had to save my family.
The entire world shook with the blast. I couldn't tell if something had actually left the Cannon, or if it were merely holding in its ammo. Or maybe the blast came from the force of my snap. I didn't know. I didn't care.
Scurrying through the mess of scattered Vermillion armor, I latched onto the cold Cannon and pulled myself into the cockpit (which had reformed with the laser beam). The key sat in the tile that was now pulsing with a magenta hue, and the key itself had become a magnificent black metal carving. There were no switches anymore. Just the key.
I could hear the Overlord roar as I latched onto the key.
My intent was to pull it free, but I was instantly blinded by the flash of golden light. The cockpit transformed before my eyes, growing lighter and lighter with each second. I waited for the Overlord to shout his next command, but surprisingly, he stayed silent.
The whole Cannon rocked as the Overlord grabbed onto it.
Quickly, without thinking, I called, "Fire at the Overlord!"
And the Cannon fired.
I dropped to my knees as the Cannon dropped back onto the ground. I could see through the thin glass the Overlord's dark form stumbling.
He was stumbling!
The Cannon of Light will not be my end. The First Spinjitzu Master already tried that and look how that turned out, the Overlord hissed into my mind.
I became aware that I could only hear my hyperventilating. I forced my breaths to slow down, felt around for my longsword, realized the longsword wasn't there, then realized the clearing had gone remarkably silent.
By silent, I meant there were no sounds of a massive beast trying to kill me.
I only hesitated for a second before reaching back up to touch the key. I had a mission, and I might not get another time to complete it. Taking deep breaths, I searched for the words.
"Cannon of Light," I whispered to the cold steel, "fire at the Vermillion who followed the first flame diversion."
And the Cannon fired.
I didn't realize what exactly it was blasting out until I saw the flames in the distance instantly stop. There was no smoke, no carnage, nothing. In fact, where the missile had fired, new trees sprung up in the place of the old ones. They seemed lighter than the rest, flowering with fruits to eat. It was almost as if the blast had restored the area to a better form.
A weak cheer erupted from within the camp's fire, my family and friends exclaiming shouts of encouragement from wherever they were fighting.
I felt warmer, lighter. I had destroyed part of the Overlord's army. Now all that was left was to face the Overlord himself.
"Cannon of Ligh—"
A high-pitched wail cut me off, too loud and near for me to ignore.
Finish that sentence and she dies. The Overlord didn't sound weakened at all seconds after being shot. In fact, he sounded twice as more menacing.
Who dies who dies who dies— I grabbed the key and scrambled to the door of the cockpit, sticking my head out into the open. I half-expected to drop dead by a well-placed arrow, but surprisingly, I remained in one piece. There were piles of dead Vermillion snakes across the ground; the few still moving were attempting to rejoin with stronger warriors. The tents had become but poles sticking up awkwardly out the ground, their coverings prey to the fire's lust.
Then, I saw her.
My mother.
She was on her back, using one of the broken tent poles to wave off her attacker. One of her boots was soaked in blood. From the way she hissed in pain, I could only assume it was her blood.
I started running to them.
The attacker was old, with grey hair and wild eyes. He was wielding a longsword—my longsword—and he was stabbing at the ground with enough force to snap the blade. Mother twisted back and forth the best she could, but I could tell from each wail that she wasn't fast enough. She cried out for Father, but he wasn't there.
The man raised the blade again, stabbing it straight into her arm. I ran faster, faster, looking around the area for something to disarm him with. That woman may have been a liar, a traitor, a hypocrite, but there was no way I was letting someone take her life. She was my mother, and I loved her.
Her scream echoed into my very soul, snapping the last straw inside of me.
Maybe that was why I did it.
Maybe if she hadn't screamed, I would still be sane.
I would still be Shade Garmadon, second born son.
Not the son of Oni and Light.
The old man raised the blade again, and this time plunged it straight into Mother's heart.
But the longsword clattered uselessly against the ground, and the man fell against Mother.
Limp, lifeless, dead.
And I fell to my knees, feeling nothing but cold, cold, cold.
The world around me grew increasingly chillier. I would have assumed it was raining. My face was wet, but I could still faintly hear the fires around me. Fires couldn't burn in a heavy rain, right?
Arms wrapped around me; a face pressed itself into my hair. I was rocking, back and forth with my mysterious embracer, while their streaming blood covered the both of us. There were a lot of angry words and crying; all I could remember was the faint voices that sobbed, "Shade, Shade honey, please snap out of it. Shade, sweetie, don't leave us. Shade, Shade!"
And so it begins.
I couldn't think hard enough to ask what the Overlord was saying. I couldn't think hard enough to process anything. All I could see was the dead man slumped next to the crooked tent poles. His cold, lifeless form, never breathing again. All because of me. All because of my life-draining power.
You killed to save your mother. Just think, you could have killed to save your brother as well.
"W-w-what?" my voice was trembling, weak.
He's lost in the flames now. He went after his little friend, but I made sure nothing could free her. She was trapped in the fire, and your brother refused to give up trying to save her until he took his last breath.
I screamed, so loud my throat started to hurt. Maybe I'd been screaming for a long time. Or maybe the screams only existed within the realms of my own insanity.
Your sister is weak. Acronix will kill her easily.
"No," I sobbed.
You're the only one left, Shade. You're the only one left to face me.
The arms were tight around my head. The voices were still struggling, still whispering to me, still acting like I was on the edge of death. Perhaps that was the reason I felt so cold.
Maybe I died in that moment.
I wasn't sure. All I remembered was the gentle thud of feet, along with the slight breeze caused by the fluttering of very dark wings. I remembered rising to my feet, of allowing the remains of the masked boy to fall away. I wiped my stringy hair out of my eyes, accidently smearing my face with blood.
The Overlord grinned back at me.
"Fight me, Shade," he taunted, his wings flaring wide. "Fight me so you can have a firsthand account of how I defy prophecies."
Mother didn't hold me back. She knew that this was destiny.
So, I stuffed the key into her hands, then walked towards the dragon, my hands empty and my arms wide.
He had taken everything from me. My sister, my sanity, my masks, and now, my other half. The Overlord wanted to taunt me, to tear me apart so I wouldn't fight him. Little did he know that grief was a terrible thing. It could make monsters out of people.
That was why I wouldn't stop snapping until every fiber in that terrible grin was nothing but dust scattered in the dirt.
He would die by my vengeful hand if it was the very last thing I did.